Sharpness is mostly home-owning households in middle age, plus a good share of social tenants. About six in ten own their home. More people rent from a social landlord than from a private one. The typical resident is in their early forties. Couples with children and people living alone are the two biggest household types.
The 2021 Census counted 1,453 people living in 609 households in Sharpness, and every population figure on this page comes from it. About 63% of households own their home. Around 15% rent privately and about 21% rent from a council or housing association. Social landlords house more people here than private landlords do, and the private market is small enough that a vacant house gets noticed.
The median age is 42, and about 27% of residents are between 25 and 44. That is middle age, with a full mortgage and a long drive to work. Forty-two is about the age at which someone stops calling the commute temporary.
The Office for National Statistics models median household income for the area around Sharpness at about £60,000 before tax, for the financial year to March 2023. That figure covers a wider patch than the village and dates from a few years ago. It is an average across very different households, so it fits two earners on a semi better than a pensioner living alone.
About 28% of households are one person living alone, and about 14% of all households are a single pensioner, who are counted within that 28%. Couples with dependent children make up about 21% of households, and lone parents about 10%. That is not quite a family village and not quite a retirement one. The pensioner on their own and the family with school-age children are about equally common.
About 24% of residents have a degree-level qualification. About 19% have no formal qualifications, and around 1% are full-time students. Degree-holders and people with no qualifications live on the same streets here, which is how it tends to go in a port village. There is no campus and there are no student lets. The only arrivals that run to a schedule are the ships.
The people of Sharpness are a middling mix: mostly owners in their forties, with a solid base of social tenants and people living alone.